Stackable package for storage and shipping



March 30, 1965 R. G. FERRIS 3,175,681

STACKABLE PACKAGE FOR STORAGE ANQSHIPPING Filed Feb. 20, 1962 F151 if? F152 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 5y.. j uw A: wn.

R. G. FERRIS March 30, 1965 STACKABLE PACKAGE F'OR STORAGE AND SHIPPING Filed Feb. 20, 1962 March .30, 11965 5R. G. FERRIS ,ST-ACKABLAE ,SBKCKAGE FOR STORAGE AND SHIPPING 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 20 1962 'March 301, i965 5R. aFERRls 43,1 75,611

STACKABLIE PACKAGE FF'OR STORAGE ND 'SHIPPING Filed Feb. 20, `1962 `4 'Sheets-Sheet 4 3,175,681 STACKABLE PACKAGE FR STORAGE AND SHIPPING Robert G. Ferris, Harvard, lll., assigner to Sterline, Inc., a corporation of Illinois Filed Feb. 20, 1962, Ser. No. 174,619 12 Claims. (Cl. 20o-65) This invention relates to a stackable package for storage or shipping, and in particular it relates to such a package that includes a large article the shape of which prevents one such article being stacked upon another.

There are many different types of large articles of commerce which are of such shape that one such article may not be stacked upon another one, and all such articles present serious problems both in storage and shipping. In the past such articles were generally crated or, if not of excessive weight, were packed in specially designed and constructed corrugated cardboard boxes. More recently a variety of specialized storage and shipping racks have been devised which are particularly constructed to support a particular article of a definite shape and size.

The present invention eliminates any need for crating, specialized cartons, or specialized racks in the storage and shipping of large articles of commerce, and is particularly applicable to a wide variety of mechanical devices having irregularly shaped frames or housings. In the present application the invention is illustrated as applied to a particular type of cultivator for which the invention was originally developed; but the invention is obviously applicable to a wide variety of large articles of commerce, and affords a very low cost means of forming a package so that several such articles may be stacked one upon another for storage or shipping.

In accordance with the invention a plurality of separate, temporary supporting members are rigidly and detachably secured directly to the article being packaged, and the article and temporary supporting members cooperate to provide a package having coplanar base portions and coplanar upper portions. Thus, a plurality of packages may be stacked one upon another with the temporary supporting members secured to an upper article standing directly upon the supporting members secured to a lower article.

Preferably the temporary supporting members take the form of a set of legs made of angle irons, each leg having a socket-like member at its upper end to receive the bottom of a leg of another set.

Furthermore, to form a package at minimum cost and with the least amount of extra labor the temporary supporting legs preferably are connected to one another only by reason of their common connection to the article, and to the largest possible extent the legs are secured to the article by means of detachable fasteners, such as nuts and bolts, which also fasten together various component parts of the article itself.

The temporary supporting legs of the package disclosed in the present application are particularly valuable because they may be attached to the frame of the article relatively early in its process of assembly, and the accompanying drawings make it apparent that the location of the legs is such that they can be used to support the article during the latter stages of assembly without interferring in any way with attachment of various operating elements to the frame. Prior assembly methods on this type of equipment have required that the device be partially assembled and then supported by a winch while being steadied on suiable blocks. The use of the temporary supporting legs here disclosed make it possible to perform many assembly operations while the article is supported solely on the temporary supporting legs. Furate l t thermore, under these conditions the article is so solidly supported that there is no danger of injury to workmen due to possible shifting or rolling of the article during assembly operations. Thus, it is perfectly safe for a Workman to reach underneath the article or into any part of the mechanism.

Furthermore, the temporary supporting legs are helpful in avoiding production bottle necks due to shortage of certain parts. Components such as a gear box, drive shaft, and others, are added to the assembly after the legs are on the cultivator; and if any of these components are out of inventory the partially assembled units may be stacked for temporary storage until the components are in stock. In any device of the present type the machined components are the hardest and slowest to produce, and consequently are most likely to be out of inventory. This, however, causes little delay in the flow of completed units because the machined components may be added to the otherwise completed units as they become available, and in the meantime substantially completed units are stockpiled ready for quick final assembly.

The invention is illustrated as a prefeired embodiment in the accompany-ing drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an end elevational view of three stackable packages in accordance with the present invention, stacked one upon another;

FIG. 2 is a sectional View on an enlarged scale, taken substantially as illustrated along the line 2 2 of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a sectional View taken substantially as illustrated along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of a single stackable package embodying the invention;

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view on an enlarged scale showing a single package from the same end as it is seen in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view on an enlarged scale of one of he temporary supporting legs;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view on an enlarged scale to illustrate the formation of the socketlike member and the upper end of the temporary supporting legs;

FIG. 8 is an end elevational view of a stackable package taken from the end opposite that of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary elevational view on an enlarged scale of the right hand temporary supporting leg seen in FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a bottom plan view of the supporting leg of the supporting leg of FIG. 9, taken substantially as illustrated along the line 10--10 of FIG. 9.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and referring first to FIGS. 4 to l0, the invention was speciiically developed for the storage and shipping of a particular cultivator which is solid under the trademark Howard Rotavator, and is illustrated in the drawings as applied to that particular piece of equipment; but it is obvious that the principle of the invention is equally applicable to a wide variety of other articles of commerce. In the drawings, an article of commerce, indicated generally at A, is a cultivator having a frame, indicated generally at 11, provided with end plates 12 and 13. For purposes of storage and shipping the cultivator is not completely assembled, and certain components such as the wheel assembly W are secured to the frame 11 in any desired manner and may be detached for assembly by the purchaser.

The cultivator A has a plurality of separate, temporary supporting members, or legs, indicated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 8 as 14, 15, I6 and 17, rigidly and detachably secured directly to it. As best seen in FIGS. 5 and 8, the legs 14 and 15 are secured directly to the end plate 12, while the legs I6 and I7 are detachably secured directly to the end plate 13, the legs 14 and 17 being on the a inner surfaces of the plates while the legs 15 and 16 are on the other faces of the plates.

Referring rst to FIG. 5, the temporary supporting member 14 is secured to end plate 12 by means of bolts 14a, 141), 14e and 14d, each of which has a cooperating nut. The various bolts 14a to 14d, inclusive, are all bolts which are normally part of the cultivator assembly, and secure a forward frame tube 11a to the end plate 12. Similarly, as seen in PIG. 8, bolts 17a, 17h, 17C and 17d which normally secure the opposite end of tube 11a to end plate 13 are also used to secure temporary supporting legs 17 to said end plate.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the temporary supporting leg 15 is secured to end plate 12 by means of bolts 15e, 15b, and 15C, and in this case only the bolt 15a is a normal cultivator assembly bolt which is used in the storage and shipping package to retain an arm member 12a. Upon assembly of the cultivator the arm member 12a is relocated with its lower end 12b positioned to receive a bolt which extends through a hole 12C in the end plate, while the bolt 15a extends through a hole 12d in said arm.

As seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, an offset arm 29 at the end of the cultivator frame is secured to leg 15 by a bolt 15d to stabilize the leg 15 for and aft.

Referring now to FIG. 8, temporary supporting leg 16 is secured to end plate 13 by means of bolts 16a and 16h which are both also used to secure certain arms 13a and 13b in temporary locations for storage and shipping. The arms 13a are parts of an assembly for supporting a trailing shield 11b of the cultivator, while arms 13b bolt to ears 3) on a cultivator skid member 31. The trailing shield 11b is temporarily secured for storage and shipping with one end connected by a bracket 15e to the leg 15 (FIG. 5) and the opposite end connected by a bracket 16c to the leg 16 (FIG. 8). Thus, the shield 11b stabilizes the legs 15 and 16 lengthwise of the cultivator, while the arm 13b stabilizes the leg 16 fore and aft. When a cultivator is assembled the trailing shield 11b is detached from the legs 15 and 16,`and is suspended from a pair of the arms 13a by means of chains.

Turning now particularly to a description of the temporary supporting legs 14, 15, 16 and 17, the drawings show that said legs are all substantially alike except for the location of mounting bolt holes therein, and the provision of clearance recesses such as the recess 17e in the leg 17 and a corresponding recess in the leg 14, to accommodate one side of the forward frame tube 11a.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 6, 7, 9 and l0, it is seen that each of the temporary supporting legs consists of an angle member having a first web 13 and a second web 19, and as seen in FIGS. 9 and 10, the lower end of each supporting leg has a metal foot 2t) which is welded to the angle webs 18 and 19.

Surmounting each of the legs is a socket-like member 21 having a triangular base plate 22 which is welded to the upper ends of the angle member webs 18 and 19, and having three outwardly and upwardly inclined guiding and confining elements 23, 24 and 25 which are positioned, respectively, along the hypotenuse and along the other two legs of triangular base plate 22 which are parallel to angle webs 18 and 19.

As seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, when the temporary supporting legs are bolted to the end plates of an article A1, a second article A2 may be stacked on top of the article Al with the supporting legs secured to article A2 standing directly upon the supporting legs which are secured to the article A1. Similarly, a third article A3 may be stacked on top of the article A2- When thus stacked, the foot 2t) of each leg is seated on the base plate 22 of each of the socket members 21, and the webs 18 and 19 of each leg are generally confined between the elements 24 and 2S respectively.

As seen in FIG. 4, the socket-like members extend in four different directions with respect to the article A- that is, the confining element 24, for example, faces forward on leg 14, rearward on leg 15, to the inside on leg 16, and to the outside on leg 17; and this'connes each package in a stack against motion in any direction while still utilizing wide open confining members for easy stacking. Furthermore, when a package consisting of the article A2 and its attached legs is being lifted onto the legs on the article A1, the inclined elements 23, 24 and 25 aid in guiding the legs of the upper article into place.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the legs are asymmetricaliy arranged, in that legs 15 and 16 are farther apart than legs 14 and 17. This requires that all the articles in a stack be oriented with the same side forward-an important handling feature since the shields 11b prevent the arms of a lift truck from being extended beneath the article from that side, and require that all the front sides (legs 14 and 17) be faced in the same direction.

As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the elements 2d and 25 are provided, respectively, with bolt holes 24a and 25a to receive bolts which may extend through the adjacent holes 18a and 19e formed, respectively in the lower ends of the webs 18 and 19. Thus, if a stack of packages is to be shipped by land, water or air, the temporary supporting legs of the respective members may be bolted one to another, to stabilize the articles in the stack.

The terms temporary supporting members and temporary supporting legs are used herein to define supports which are secured to an article of manufacture only temporarily and for limited purposes, and which must be removed before the article may be used for its intended purpose.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for the clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, for some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. A stable stack of machines for storage and shipping, comprising, in combination: first and second identis cal large irregularly shaped machines each of which has top and bottom surfaces that prevent it from resting stable on a supporting surface and prevent one of said machines from being stacked upon another; a plurality of like, separate temporary supporting members rigidly and detachably secured in identical positions on each of said machines, solely for temporary support of said machine in a stable manner, said temporary supporting members on each machine cooperating with the latter to provide first and second packages each of which has coplanar base portions and coplanar upper portions that are aligned with said coplanar base portions, said second package surmounting the first package with its coplanar' base portions resting directly upon the coplanar upper portions of the first package, the upper portion of said first package having holes, and the lower portions of the second pack-g age having holes which are adjacent and generally aligned with those in the rst package; and removable fasteners impaling said adjacent holes and detachably securing the econd package to the rst package.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the tempo'd rary supporting members on each machine have lower ends that extend below any part of the machine to provide all the coplanar base portions of the package, said temporary supporting members have upper ends that provide all the coplanar upper portions of the package and the holes are all in said temporary supporting members. 3. The combination of claim 2 which includes a socketlike member surmounting each temporary supporting member, each socket-like member having guiding and confining elements flanking the lower end of a temporary supporting member resting on said temporary supporting member and the holes in the upper end of each temporary supporting member being in said elements, and in which each removable fastener extends through one of said confining elements and through the lower end portion of the temporary supporting member which is flanked by said one of said elements.

4. A stackable package for storage and shipping, comprising: a large machine each side of which has an irregular profile that lacks widely spaced coplanar parts which would permit the machine to rest stably upon a planar supporting surface and permit two identical machines to rest one upon another in a stable stack; and a plurality of temporary supporting members which are rigidly and detachably secured directly to widely spaced surfaces of said machine in generally upright positions to form a package that includes the machine, said supporting members being connected together only by the machine, the lower ends of said supporting members being llat and coplanar with one another and being at least as low as the lowermost point on the machine so that the package has widely paced at coplanar base portions which rest stably upon a supporting surface, said supporting members extending continuously to the upper portion of the package, the upper ends of said supporting members being coplanar so that the package has widely spaced coplanar upper portions, there being no part of the package that extends above said coplanar upper portions a distance greater than that from the coplanar lower portions of the package to the lowest part on the machine so that two such packages may rest stably one upon another to form a stack with the weight of each package carried substantially entirely by the supporting members.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which said machine is partially assembled and includes parts that, when the machine is fully assembled, project a substantial distance outside of a generally rectilinear space defined by parallel vertical planes tangent to the extremities of the partially assembled machine and parallel horizontal planes that include said coplanar base and upper portions, and in which said parts are temporarily secured tof the package so as to be substantially entirely within said space.

6. The combination of claim 4 in which the machine has relatively flat, generally upright end plates, and the temporary supporting members are bolted to said end plates and extend below the lowest part of the machine so as to provide all the coplanar base portions.

7. The combination o-f claim 4 in which the temporary supporting members are four legs, the machine includes a frame, and threaded means secure said legs to said frame.

8. The combination of claim 7 in which the lower ends of the legs extend below the lowest part of the machine to provide all the coplanar base portions, in which the upper ends of the legs provide all the coplanar upper portions, and in which an integral socket-like member surmounts each leg to provide a stable base for the corresponding leg of an upper package.

9. The combination of claim 8 in which each leg is an angle member, and each socket-like member has a right triangular central recess in which the two sides of a corresponding leg of an upper package may be confined.

10. The combination of claim 7 in which the four legs are asymmetrically positioned, whereby packages stacked one upon another are necessarily identically oriented.

11. The combination of claim 7 in which each leg has a relatively open socket-like member at its upper end in which a leg of an upper package may stand, said socketlike members have inclined confining faces, and in which corresponding coniining faces on the four legs extend in four different directions with respect to the package.

12. The combination of claim 7 in which a leg is bolted to the machine frame at least in part by means of bolts which also secure said frame to another part of said machine.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 919,798 4/09 Weinacht 217-36 1,591,964 7/26 Copany 10S- 368 2,611,946 9/52 Etten et al. 206-65 2,808,176 10/57 Osborne 220-97 FOREIGN PATENTS 499,172 1/ 54 Canada.

756,170 9/ 33 France.

849,261 4/ 39 France.

916,460 4/46 France.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

EARLE J. DRUMMOND, GEORGE O. RALSTON, Examiners. 

4. A STACKABLE PACKAGE FOR STORAGE AND SHIPPING, COMPRISING: A LARGE MACHINE EACH SIDE OF WHICH HAS AN IRREGULAR PROFILE THAT LACKS WIDELY SPACED COPLANAR PARTS WHICH WOULD PERMIT THE MACHINE TO REST STABLY UPON A PLANAR SUPPORTING SURFACE AND PERMIT TWO IDENTICAL MECHINES TO REST ONE UPON ANOTHER IN A STABLE STACK; AND A PLURALITY OF TEMPORARY SUPPORTING MEMBERS WHICH ARE RIGIDLY AND DETACHABLY SECURED DIRECTLY TO WIDELY SPACED SURFACES OF SAID MACHINE IN GENERALLY UPRIGHT POSITIONS TO FORM A PACKAGE THAT INCLUDES THE MACHINE, SAID SUPPORTING MEMBERS BEING CONNECTED TOGETHER ONLY BY THE MACHINE, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID SUPPORTING MEMBERS BEING FLAT AND COPLANAR WITH ONE ANOTHER AND BEING AT LEAST AS LOW AS THE LOWERMOST POINT ON THE MACHINE SO THAT THE PACKAGE HAS WIDELY SPACED FLAT COPLANAR BASE PORTIONS WHICH REST STABLY UPON A SUPPORTING SURFACE, SAID SUPPORTING MEMBERS EXTENDING CONTINUOUSLY TO THE UPPER PORTION OF THE PACKAGE, THE UPPER ENDS OF SAID SUPPORTING MEMBERS BEING COPLANAR SO THAT THE PACKAGE HAS WIDELY SPACED COPLANAR UPPER PORTIONS, THERE BEING NO PART OF THE PACKAGE THAT EXTENDS ABOVE SAID COPLANAR UPPER PORTIONS A DISTANCE GREATER THAN THAT FROM THE COPLANAR LOWER PORTIONS OF THE PACKAGE TO THE LOWEST PART ON THE MACHINE SO THAT TWO SUCH PACKAGES MAY REST STABLY ONE UPON ANOTHER TO FORM A STACK WITH THE WEIGHT OF EACH PACKAGE CARRIED SUBSTANTIALLY ENTIRELY BY THE SUPPORTING MEMBERS. 